It’s not too surprising that some highlights this year were celeb-centric (i.e. “the royal baby”) or that others revolve around this year’s tragedies (i.e. “Typhoon Haiyan,” and “Boston Marathon”).

But most of what we see is people overcoming challenges, acts of kindness and a multitude of reasons to celebrate the world we live in.

Of course, no year is perfect, and we should always strive to be better, kinder, nicer. But Google — and our team here at SLee and Topher — wanted to remind you that good always wins the day. [Read more…]

If you own or manage a website, you probably refer to analytics to track performance, and help you strategize. It may surprise you, however, that 61.5% of all web traffic around the world comes from bots — both good and bad.

According to a recent report from Incapsula, a cloud-based application delivery platform, less than 40% of global web traffic comes from humans. In fact, 31% of traffic comes from search engines and other “good bots,” while the rest comes from malicious bots.

Created by Statista, the following chart breaks down web traffic by source, including content scrapers, spambots and more.

Netflix has dominated the video streaming space for several years. It seems that everyone in this generation is coughing up the $7.99 per month membership fee for what now has become, for many, more essential than cable. But Netflix is no longer the only streaming service fighting to get into your living room. Let’s consider the possibility that Amazon Prime is better than Netflix (and cheaper, too). [Read more…]

Two years ago, over 7 million Internet users like you helped defeat the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) — a bill that would have censored the web and impeded innovation.

Since we combined our voices to stop SOPA, creativity has continued to thrive — both on and off the web.

Of course, piracy remains a major concern and Google does its part to fight it, but, two years after SOPA, it’s clear that the Internet has been really good for creativity and entertainment.

Singers, filmmakers, and comedians today have more outlets for creativity online than ever before. The movie and music industries remain strong, and thanks to the Internet we have so many more choices for entertainment, including YouTube videos, online-only movies and TV shows, and surprise online-only releases of popular music.

The only thing SOPA would have done is restrict creativity, collaboration, and freedom of speech. Our reaction demonstrated the power of regular Internet users to affect policy — and it’s a tradition we should continue.

Celebrate the second anniversary of stopping SOPA by sharing the graphic now.

Ever since the internet invaded mobile devices, lengthy links have been an issue. With only 140 characters in a tweet or 160 in a text, there can’t be any wasted space. This is where the link shortener comes in. [Read more…]

Apache is a great open source web server, but the configuration files are as clear as hieroglyphics. Fortunately there’s an easy way to get the configuration settings you need. Keep reading to find out how to make an .htaccess file with ease.

It is incredibly easy to sign up for Twitter, but what if you want to delete your Twitter account? This video will show you step-by-step how to quickly and easily delete your account in less than 1 minute.[Read more…]

Update: This review is based on my personal experience with Redbox Instant. I hope it gives you a good idea of how the service works, but the best way to know if it’s right for you is to try it for yourself. You can even test it out risk-free. Redbox will give you a 30-day free trial; if you don’t like it, you can cancel your subscription — no questions asked. Click here to start your free trial.

Redbox recently joined the ranks of online streaming video providers with their Redbox Instant service. These are my thoughts after a one-month free trial.[Read more…]

For years, it has been the best RSS feed aggregator — which, like many Google products, has been available for no cost to its users. In the very near future, this service will sadly no longer be available, at any cost, because Google is retiring Google Reader. [Read more…]